Kick Ass Kitchen

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Since giving up grains also means giving up pizza, I decided to try out making personal pan pizza's with a grain free crust. The flavor is good, but you'll have to eat this with a fork and knife. This recipe makes one personal pan pizza.

Preheat your oven to 400F (I used my Cuisinart Toaster Oven). Mix all of your crust ingredients together. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Top with sauce, I like Bove's marinara. Add your favorite toppings. For this pizza, I used ground hamburger and onions, Italian seasoning, Parmesan, and Montery Jack cheese. Bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Last weekend, I had mashed turnips and carrots for the first time. It was surprisingly good. I wanted to try and make it myself. I'll be bringing this to my Sister's today for Easter dinner. Hope everyone likes it...

Here's what you'll need:

1 big turnip

1/2 - 1 pound of carrots

Salt, pepper

Honey

Sage

Butter, coconut oil, or fat of choice

Peel the carrots and the turnip. Cut them into cubes. Boil until soft. I added a little salt and raw honey to the water before I boiled everything. I read this can help get rid of the bitter turnip flavor. I threw them into the KitchenAid and beat them until they were mashed but slightly chunky. I added a little bit of chopped sage at the end. You can also throw in a little butter or coconut oil.

I just whipped up a batch of this "cookie dough" by Chocolate Covered Katie. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it is actually delish and totally filling. I had maybe a half a cup of the finished product and I'm full, I don't want anymore.

Usually, when I eat cookies or chocolate, I don't get full and I want not only seconds, but thirds, fourths, and fifths. The next morning, I usually wish I never ate them to begin with. I recommend this recipe for anyone looking for a satisfying, naturally sweetened dessert. It even tastes great without adding the chocolate chips. I modified the recipe to use pecans instead of peanut butter, the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of peanut butter so I added 1/2 cup of pecans and about a tablespoon of raw walnuts to the food processor instead. I think pecans add a nice flavor to all desserts and I enjoy them in my "real" cookies as well. In addition, I used one cup of dates instead of 1 1/4.

I'm bringing this to our Easter festivities tomorrow, let's see if I can trick the crowd.....

Monday, March 11, 2013

After a failed attempt at plantain bread aka spongy hockey pucks last night, I decided to go back to bananas and leave the plantains for frying. These mini muffins are super moist, you'll have a hard time eating just one.

Mush up your bananas and butter. Beat your eggs. Add your apple sauce. Stir. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. I try to avoid adding extra sugar to my food, but if you'd like a little extra sweetness, add some honey or maple syrup (1 tbsp would probably be good although they don't need it at all). You could also add dates, more crushed nuts, shaved dark chocolate, or raisins.

Pour into a mini muffin pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. This recipe makes 24 mini muffins. A serving is 3 mini muffins.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

There is a restaurant in Lowell, MA that I love called Life Alive. They have the best food and the coolest bathroom, seriously, I just want to hang out in there. My favorite meal is the Lover and I've been looking for a way to recreate this at home. This is a bowl of grains, vegetables, and the secret ingredient, Ginger Nama Shoyu Dressing. I did a google search and I found a recipe for Ginger Nama Shoyu Dressing on yahoo answers. I took a chance and made it tonight and it is awesome.

Ingredients for the Ginger Nama Shoyu Dressing:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly chopped ginger

1/4 cup garlic

2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon nama shoyu

1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

11/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

I placed the ginger and garlic in my food processor and beat them up. Next, I added lemon juice, nama shoyu, and salt. Finally, I added the olive oil a little at a time. The dressing is a garlicy gingery goodness. This would probably be easier in a Vitamix, but one can only wish...

Ingredients for the rest of your dinner:

2 -3 heads Broccoli

One container of Shitake mushrooms (or mushroom of your choice)

3 medium Beets

4 Carrots

1 Cup of Uncle Ben's White rice

2 1/4 cups Bone broth (recipe soon) or water

Steam your rice using the directions on the box. I added bone broth instead of water for a little extra nutrition and flavor. Shred your carrots and beets in a food processor or by hand. Cut up the broccoli heads into bite size pieces. Steam your vegetables.

Plate your rice, top with vegetables, and cover with dressing.

This recipe makes 4-5 servings. This is one of my new favorites and it will make even the most hardcore meat eater into a vegetable lover. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow so I can devour this.....

Monday, February 18, 2013

I've been trying to eat more soups lately. My original plan was to buy a cooked chicken, pick the meat, and then boil the bones. Market Basket was out of cooked chickens so this recipe was created and it was actually quite tasty.

Ingredients:

One package of chicken thighs with bones (1-2 pounds)

1/2 a package of baby carrots

1 package of celery

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper

Rinse your chicken. Chop your veggies. Add your ingredients to a crock pot, fill the rest of the way with water, turn on high, cook over night and in the morning you've got a pot of chicken soup.

*If you have time, braise the chicken thighs on a cast iron skillet for a little more flavor.

About Me

I love to cook. I think eating healthy should taste good. I think we were designed to eat "real food" and I'm sharing recipes made with just that. I'm interested in primal eating, but I don't want to classify myself as such. I want to share recipes that show others just how easy it is to make your own food from scratch.